'Looks like we have a caller on the line. Welcome to Coast to Coast...
Mr. Tannis, you're on the air.'
'Hi there, Long time listener, first time caller.
I just wanted to chime in and say that I know exactly what he means by clones. I travel a bit and I am absolutely positive I have seen the same Earth pony in different cities. I even saw a pegasus version of her during a water collecting project for cloudsdale. She had cotton candy hair in three colors and a cutie mark of three wrapped candies. What is interesting is each one I've seen had a different voice.
I posit a less nefarious explanation for this cloning than breeding for servitude. It's possible that Celestia (who has been around for who knows how long exactly) has seen a problem with reproductive rates in ponydom. If you just look at the ratio of colts to fillies you can see that things are hardly equal. It could be that this is an attempt to boost our population. What do you think?'
'Thank you for calling in Mr. Tannis.'
'There is a staggering difference in the numbers of colts to fillies. In previous studies I have conducted the ration was 20 to 1 in favor of the fillies. However, this is ratio would be beneficial to breeding. The normal gestation period for a filly is anywhere from 6 to 9 months and during that time the filly is incapable of reproducing. Colts on the other hand can fulfill their breeding duty every 15 minutes. If one colt inseminated twenty fillies then there would be a population explosion.'
'I think my wife would have a few words with me if I courted 19 other fillies.'
'Heh heh. Well those societal rituals of monogamy sure do keep the population down. The numbers don't lie though; our species, in it's current state, is arranged for an exponential increase in population.
I would venture to guess... And this is only a guess. In order to prove something like this a study of the entire population of Equestria over the course of several generations would need to be conducted. I would, however, venture to guess if Princess Celestia was manipulating the type as well as gender of ponies; then it would be safe to say that she intends for the population to increase dramatically over the next couple of generations.
'Hear that honey? The Princess wants us to have more than one wife.
Lets take another call here. Welcome to Coast to Coast...'